Re: Suggestion for special file storage in 1.0

> I can make a longer mail explaining why versioning special files is
> indeed wanted and very handy - and I think others, who have wished the
> exact same thing, will contribute as well. Even the subversion
> project page mentions special file storage on their front page.
>
> But I'll wait a while first for others to contribute their opinions as
> well.

[I generally just lurk here; hope you don't mind me butting into your
thread.]

I guess I could certainly get along without things like soft links
within my revision-controlled directories. However, I can certainly
find times when I want to be able to use them, even outside of the
context of versioning something like /dev (which I can't honestly see
myself doing).

At work here, I usually use ClearCase. This is something I've done
in the past:

   cleartool ln -s Makefile Makefile.aix

Nevermind why I need the AIX file; let's just assume I do, and for my
purposes, it will always be identical to the other file.

Once I've done this, ClearCase happily maintains the link for me as part
of the versioned directory. I can't check out the soft-link, because
ClearCase doesn't actually version the link, but that's doesn't really
matter much from my perspective - I just need a valid file named
Makefile.aix.

Yeah, of course I can think of several practical ways to work around
this requirement without relying on soft links within version control.
That's not the point, though. I guess I just wanted demonstrate that it
doesn't take an extreme example to come up with a benefit for supporting
things like soft links.

I think the difficulty here is in creating a portable product (which I
most certainly want SVN to be) while not handicapping the product to be
no more capable than the least-capable supported platfom (in this case,
Windoze). I don't profess to have the solution to that problem. :-(

KEN

-- 
Kenneth J. Pronovici <pronovic@ieee.org>
Personal Homepage: http://www.skyjammer.com/~pronovic/
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little 
 temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." 
      - Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759 
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